Art School and Giant Ears

I didn’t receive a formal fine art education. I just love painting animals and I followed many art courses whenever and wherever I could. 

I reluctantly received a classical education in high school and then I took biology studies at university because, guess what, I was interested in zoology.

Art was sorely missing from my subjects so I decided to take matters into my capable hands and I started following a drawing course as extra curricular activity.

I was living in Spain at the time, I found a local well known artist (I won’t tell you the name) that was giving lessons and I eagerly enrolled.

I arrived at the studio: it was a rather old and gloomy apartment in the center of town but it was crawling with youngsters filled with hopes and ambitions and that was enough for me to find it interesting.

I don’t remember anything like some kind of lecture, explanation or introduction to any art technique. 

I was just given a ballpoint pen with a piece of paper and to my amazement, I was placed in front of a giant human ear made of plaster and I was told to start drawing it.

Surprisingly enough I found the exercise interesting: sketching the intricate pattern of the ear as an almost abstract painting was a challenge and the time of the first lesson flew by.

Things started going downhill when I realized that the following lessons were going to be more of the same until I finally started doubting the teaching method of that acclaimed painter.

Actually these lessons with me sitting in front of the giant ear made me feel like I was living in a Woody Allen movie until finally I decided that I had learned enough of the nooks and crannies of the giant ear and I moved on.

Maybe it was a zen lesson but since then my self confidence grew and I stared favoring art courses that encouraged more my creativity than the sheer technique.

In time I began painting with watercolors, I tried landscapes and flowers but nothing could compare with the pleasure of studying animals, my first love.

Digital illustration techniques are reshaping the figurative art world for all artists, including humble craftspeople like me.

I am enjoying tools I never dreamed of when I was sitting in front of that giant ear and my crafts and skills are evolving in unexpected ways.